Knights of Degen Whitepaper
Abstract
Knights of Degen (“KOD”) launched in 2021 with an initial NFT collection of 8,888 collectible Knights, establishing a highly engaged community of sports fans.
Knights of Degen was started to combine two passions from the founding team — sports fandom and web3. There was a sense that the sports fan community, and particularly sports fans who love having action on the game — aka Degens — were underserved in the web3 landscape. KOD opened the Degen Tavern Discord, to enjoy sports, share action and alpha, and discuss opportunities for innovation on-chain. The response was explosive, and it became clear, Degens love to win, and lose, together.
In 2023, the Degen DAO and DGEN token will launch with a mission to establish a broad, diverse and decentralized sports and entertainment kingdom in the metaverse.
This whitepaper sets out the next phase of the development of the Knights of Degen ecosystem. With the launch of the Knights of Degen Native Mobile Application, the DGEN Token and the Degen DAO, Knights of Degen is taking a significant step forward towards realizing the vision of a decentralized metaverse where people around the world can socialize, compete and earn just by being a fan.
Knights Of Degen
Knights of Degen is a decentralized ecosystem of web3 sports and competitive entertainment products built for a global community of fans.
Mission Statement
Knights of Degen is building a community-led Sports and Entertainment ecosystem where fans come to celebrate sports, action, and competition with friends and fans around the world. All of the applications and products developed for the Knights of Degen ecosystem are connected in their mission of innovating on-chain for communal sports fandom and in-game action, creating new experiences and opportunities, elevating the sports they love.
Community
Knights of Degen was created as a fair-launch, community-driven project. The vast majority of Knights of Degen’s core members and contributors came directly from the community, inspired by Knight’s ethos of building in the open. The launch of the Degen DAO establishes a framework by which the community can build alongside the core contributors and receive rewards in DGEN for developing key parts of the ecosystem (e.g., guilds and sub-DAOs, bounties, quests).
Knights of Degen Inc.
Knights of Degen Inc. is a web3 sports entertainment and gaming company, dedicated to building innovative games and intellectual property that leverage blockchain technology to unlock innovative experiences that align with the core mission of the Knights of Degen ecosystem and the Degen DAO. Knights of Degen Inc. is the corporation that owns the Knights of Degen intellectual property, as well as the technology and infrastructure powering the Knights of Degen ecosystem.
What is a Degen?
The term Degen has a broad range of connotations. To us, Degen is a term of endearment. It represents passion, curiosity, and a willingness to take risks. Degens value fun-spirited competition, having a stake in the game and winning together. Degens seize the moment and dare to break new ground. There is nothing degenerate about being a Degen.
The Degen Manifesto
As sports fans who enjoy having a stake in the games we love, we believe in the following principles:
- Betting and Fantasy are all about the thrill and excitement of the game, an added layer of entertainment, and best experienced with friends.
- We believe in being responsible — know your limits and always play within your means. Don’t let a bad game ruin your day (or your life).
- We value the skill and knowledge required to make informed bets, and we seek to continuously improve our understanding of the sports and teams we bet on.
- We believe every sports fan has betting alpha in them, and value the crowd-sourcing effect of the community to uncover wins.
- Above all, we are passionate sports fans who love the games we bet on, and we seek to enhance our enjoyment of sports through the excitement and thrill of betting.
Gaming and Fandom Primer (aka Problem statement)
Sports fandom has advanced leaps and bounds over the past decade. As seen by the rapid growth of online sports betting, fantasy sports and e-sports, for most people what it means to be a fan is no longer limited to watching a sport or wearing a specific team’s laundry.
Simply watching sports is no longer enough to satisfy the modern fan. There is a massive need for new engaging, immersive, and interactive mechanisms for enjoying sports and other forms of competitive entertainment.
Fans are looking for exciting and interactive ways to engage with their favorite teams and sports. New and older generations of fans are no longer satisfied by passive fandom and are seeking out ways to actively enjoy the games they love.
Put simply, fans want to have action in the games they are watching and they want to share that action with a community of fans seeking the same experience.
KOD 2.0 Games and Tournaments Ecosystem aka Core Products
Knights of Degen was created to provide a home base for those with a Degen spirit. A place to gather with like-minded individuals who value fun-spirited competition, having a stake in the game and winning together. Knights of Degen set out to create an ecosystem that fostered and enhanced the fan experience by bringing out the “Degen” in all of us.
The core framework of this ecosystem is built around these user experiences:
- Socialize
- Compete
- Earn
The Knights of Degen ecosystem is build around a three-part resource economy:
Users | Managers | Team Owners (Players)
The users, token holders, fantasy team owners, and tournament managers are the lifeblood of the Knights of Degen ecosystem. By creating a Degen Identity and participating in Tournaments or Leagues they keep the ecosystem moving forward.
DGEN | Degen DAO (Power)
Knights of Degen products are linked–narratively and economically–through DGEN. The DAO uses DGEN to grow new projects and continue supporting more mature ones. The DGEN token flows throughout the ecosystem and is the mechanism that the Players use to power all of the different components.
Tournaments | Contests | Leagues (Games)
The games that have been and will continue to be developed combine the Knights of Degen social protocol and community with a suite of activities and games where the Players will compete for DGEN tokens. All while building credibility and stature via their Degen Identity.
Ecosystem Components
KOD Mobile Application
The Knights of Degen mobile application is a home base for members of our community to discover and interact with many KOD products, as well as to connect, compete and win together.
The app has three distribution methods:
- iOS
- Android (coming soon)
- Web
For the native apps, usage is gated by needing to have a valid Degen Identity. Users must log in or create a profile upon using the app for the first time. Profiles are transportable across devices and distribution methods as they all use our centralized authentication system.
Want to get notified as soon as the Knight of Degen app is live? Use secret code ‘carpeDegen’ for access.
Degen Identity and Degen Feed
Degen Identity
The Knights of Degen identity includes your username, avatars, web3 wallet, applicable NFT characters for the game experience, and your authorized 3rd party apps.
This on-chain personal identity is the essential framework that connects all of the different products, applications and activity users take within the ecosystem. Playing in a fantasy league in one application and voting on a proposal in another are connected through your Degen Identity.
The Degen Identity is being developed to help onboard users who may be new to Web3 and want help with key storage or asset custody. Users can opt for self custody at any time so as we drive new users to Web3, they can have the benefit of an additional security layer when they start their journey.
This component opens up an entire social landscape and a world of opportunities to incentivize different forms of participation throughout Knights of Degen.
Degen Feed
The Degen Feed highlights betting and fantasy activity users take in and out of the KOD App. When a user signs up for the app and creates their Degen Identity they will be able to link different 3rd party sports betting or eventually fantasy applications. Once a user has connected one or more sports books, the KOD app will add your activity to a global feed for everyone in the ecosystem to see.
The Degen Feed takes individual “Action” and turns it into a social experience.
Degen Tournaments
Degen Tournaments will enable the community to create and join play-to-earn competitions and contests within the KOD App. Over time the Tournaments application will offer fully customizable user generated tournaments in terms of content (how to win), participant count, format, and branding.
Tournaments will not be limited to those sponsored by the Degen DAO or Knights of Degen Inc. Anyone with access to the Knights of Degen ecosystem will be able to generate their own tournaments where their friends and network can come and compete.
Degen Fantasy
In the Summer of 2022, Knights of Degen Inc. acquired the web3 fantasy sports provider, LeagueDAO. This acquisition integrates LeagueDAO’s suite of web3 fantasy sports applications into the Knights of Degen ecosystem under the brand name of Degen Fantasy.
Degen Fantasy allows users to join and commission their own web3 fantasy sports leagues within the Knights of Degen ecosystem. Web3 fantasy sports leagues eliminates many of the pain points that come with running a fantasy sports league, including dues collection, prize distribution, and dispute resolution, while offering material enhancements. By channeling the unique benefits of web3, we are able to unlock different in-game experiences and strategies that previously were not possible. Imagine being able to sell or rent out your players during the season or being able to use DGEN tokens to sweeten trade offers.
Fantasy Game Formats
Season Long Fantasy Mega Leagues
Multi-division season long managed fantasy league powered by web3. This format is comprised of 3 core components: 1. The Main League application; 2. The live player Draft app; and 3. The Free Agent Marketplace.
Season Long Dynasty Leagues
This is the ultimate Dynasty League. Own your players year after year and compete in an exclusive Dynasty Fantasy League.
Scramble Fantasy
A unique game model where users mint an NFT comprised of a random selection of players. During the season, users can pay to randomly “scramble” one or all of the players on their team. Each Team NFT competes against all other teams for weekly and end of season prizes.
Bet 2 Earn and Quests
Sponsored contests where users in the Mobile App can earn DGEN tokens based on their betting activities or by completing different “quests”.
These contests will run for limited windows of time with a fixed supply of DGEN allocated per contest. The DAO can vote to grant DGEN to fund additional contests and quests.
Tournament and Fantasy League Reward and Entry Models
One final note regarding Tournaments, Fantasy Leagues and Bet 2 Earn Contests. These games have been developed to allow League or Tournament owners the flexibility to choose from different entry fee or prize models.
Entry Fee Models:
Tournaments will be able to be created with one of the following entry fee options.
- Free Entry
- Stake to Enter (Stake DGEN to gain access to a Fantasy League or Tournament)
- Paid Entry
Prize Models:
- Sponsored Rewards (the DAO can vote to sponsor reward pools with DGEN or 3rd party communities could fund prize pools with their tokens)
- Entry Fee Generated Rewards (this could be DGEN or a stable coin)
- Future Options (No Loss Tournaments and Leagues)
Reward Pool Farming and No-Loss Fantasy
Prize Pool Farming
A unique component of Degen Fantasy that was originally developed by LeagueDAO that is already in use in the Degen Fantasy app is the incorporation of decentralized finance (”DeFi”) into the core reward/prize strategy for fantasy sports leagues.
Tokens collected as league entry fees are automatically deposited into a 3rd party DeFi Pool. The Pool of Entry Fees will generate additional tokens through the DeFi protocol over the course of the season, or in the case of Dynasty Leagues, the season and off-season. The additional tokens generated could be added to the league prize or could be used to compensate league commissioners for the time they spend overseeing the fantasy league during the season.
No-Loss Fantasy League
The integration of DeFi into Degen Fantasy also opens the door for future iterations that could include leagues where league winners receive the DeFi rewards generated by the pool of entry fees over the duration of the season and all other participants receive 100% of their entry fees back at the end of the season. This is in essence, no-loss fantasy sports.
All gaming applications, including fantasy sports offerings, are subject to review by legal counsel to ensure compliance with applicable laws.
Ecosystem NFTs
Gen I Knights
The genesis characters in the Knights of Degen ecosystem are the Knights NFT.
Each Knight is unique and programmatically generated from over 188 traits. Knights come in 3 forms: Humans, Robots and Aliens. Knights are stored as ERC-721 tokens on the Ethereum blockchain and hosted on IPFS.
Knights Privileges:
- NFT ownership rights
- Degen DAO rights: ability to make proposals, ability to participate in committees
- Exclusive airdrops
- Exclusive rewards
- Exclusive events
- Exclusive space in Discord and future digital community locations including Metaverse lands
Steedz
The second characters in the Knights of Degen ecosystem are the Steedz. Steedz unlock real world travel opportunities and contests, both inside and outside of the ecosystem.
All Steedz are unique and programmatically generated from over 435 traits. Steedz arrived in Stablez, with some Stablez having heightened tiers: Better = Elite, or Best = Legendary. Steedz are stored as ERC-721 tokens on the Ethereum blockchain and images are hosted on IPFS.
Steedz Privileges:
- NFT ownership rights
- Exclusive contests for travel & ticketed events
- Exclusive games for rewards
Goblets
Goblets are custom NFTs issued to winners of competitions across sports and culture, including KOD’s Tournament of Champions series. If a major sports or cultural event is happening, a tournament is likely to run and be celebrated. Winners are rewarded with Goblets, as a way to keep score.
A unique Goblet is issued for each winner. Traits will vary. Goblets are stored as ERC-721 tokens on the Polygon blockchain and hosted on IPFS.
Gen II Knights (Coming Soon)
Gen II Knights are the virtual personification of your Degen Identity. A customizable NFT that can be used as your profile picture, access to token-gated chats and games. Unlike fixed supply Gen I Knights of Degen NFTs, Gen II Knights are being created with an open supply aimed at creating a scalable collection that will grow as more and more users create their Degen Identities. Gen II Knights do not hold Degen DAO privileges.
DGEN Token and Degen DAO
The DGEN ERC-20 token is the resource that allows users to enter, compete or host different tournaments or leagues in the KOD App. The relationship between the KOD games and DGEN is the equilibrium underpinning the Knights of Degen ecosystem.
About
DGEN is an ERC-20 governance, utility and rewards token. DGEN is the engine that powers the Knights of Degen ecosystem.
The first objective in the creation of the token is that the DGEN token delivers “power to the people” by facilitating a decentralized community governance structure for the DAO Treasury via the Degen DAO in a way that allows ecosystem participants to collectively vote and shape the evolution of DGEN, its allocations, and the initiatives it pursues.
The second objective is to create a primary in-game token that will be used to power different components of the Knights of Degen ecosystem of games, leagues and tournaments.
The third objective relates to the growth of the ecosystem — making DGEN accessible to the broader public and inviting new members to join the ecosystem.
The fourth objective is creating and developing new products and services that enhance the community experience when interacting with DGEN and Knights of Degen brand. These include projects like new games, contests and tournaments, sports to bet on, IRL event experiences, and physical merchandise utility, apart from others. Ultimately, it’s in the hands of the DGEN community and Degen DAO to propel the ecosystem beyond what has been built today.
DGEN can be used for any other type of utility. Developers can leverage the liquidity and community of DGEN to bootstrap their own activities and games.
DGEN Token Distribution
DGEN Token Unlock Schedule
DGEN Staking
DAO Staking Pool
Once the Governance Application is activated token holders will have to stake their DGEN in the app in order to vote on DAO proposals. Staking DGEN will also give token holders the ability to delegate their votes to another community member who will use the delegated voting power on their behalf. In the future, the DAO can vote to allocate DGEN tokens to a pool that will reward token holders who participate in governance.
Other Possible Staking Pools
DAO can approve the creation of different DGEN staking pools to be used in connection with different activities within the ecosystem.
DGEN Community Claim
15.00% of the total token supply (150,000,000 DGEN) will be distributed to the strongest community members and supporters of Knights of Degen upon the launch of DGEN. The details and parameters will be announced at a later date.
DGEN Utility
DGEN Utility: DAO Governance
DGEN token also serves the role of a governance token and is used to govern the Knights of Degen ecosystem. These tokens grant the respective holders a right to participate in the DGEN DAO governance functions and make the DGEN token holder the foundation of every key decision for further development of the ecosystem. Any further utility of the token that could be relevant to the ecosystem can also be decided and voted on by the mentioned governance functions.
On-Chain Voting
The community will propose and vote on policy updates, future DGEN distributions, and whatever the community deems relevant in support of the KOD ecosystem and its vision.
Delegating Voting Power
DGEN token holders will have the choice to delegate their voting power to other community members who they feel will effectively represent their interests. If at any point a token holder wishes to take back their voting power or delegate to a different community member they will be able to withdraw their delegated tokens and re-assign as they see fit.
DGEN Utility: In-Game Currency
DGEN is the primary in-game token for the Knights of Degen ecosystem and can be used for a range of things such as, but not limited to:
- Updating Tournament entries mid-tournament (e.g. Updating your March Madness bracket after the first round)
- Buying, selling and loaning out Free Agent player NFTs in Degen Fantasy Leagues
- Staking to determine Degen Fantasy player draft orders
- Game rewards
- New content purchases
- Stake to play
DGEN Utility: Ecosystem Development Grants
Degen DAO controlled grants have the ability to fund further expansion of the Knights of Degen ecosystem.
For example, Degen DAO can decide that it wants to incentivize users to participate in more tournaments or contests by unlocking DGEN rewards when a user reaches a certain Experience Point threshold. In that case, Degen DAO might grant DGEN to Knights of Degen Inc. to allocate tokens towards this initiative.
Initiatives funded by the Degen DAO present opportunities to grow the Knights of Degen ecosystem and community, and generate revenue that will flow back to the DAO Treasury.
Degen DAO
DGEN token holders will interact and participate in the governance of the Degen DAO through the Launch Snapshot which will be deployed alongside the DGEN token, and long term through the Governance Application.
Launch Snapshot
To ensure there is a mechanism for decentralized governance immediately upon the launch of the DGEN token, we will start by using a Launch Snapshot to enable DGEN holders to vote on proposals needed to be approved in the first few months of the launch of the Degen DAO.
The Launch Snapshot is a short term governance solution that will provide the core contributors sufficient time to build out a more robust governance application for the Degen DAO.
Governance Application
Following the launch of the DGEN token we will deploy a comprehensive governance application that will incorporate the key parameters for decentralized governance that the Degen DAO deems necessary. This subsequent application might need to have multiple specific functions that the Launch Snapshot does not have.
The Degen DAO Governance application will ultimately become the core component of the Degen DAO because it will be able to make decisions in a decentralized manner that will be able to enforce the best actions for the wellness of the community.
DAO Treasury
The DAO Treasury will be initiated by the creation of the Governance Application and will be funded with DGEN tokens. Future allocations or grants of DGEN will come from the Degen DAO Treasury, which will be complemented continuously by a portion of revenue streams generated by the Degen DAO.
Committees and Sub-DAOs
The community groups are established to improve the KOD ecosystem. Committees can be ongoing, or project based, and may be approved by the Degen DAO to receive DGEN for participation.
Submitting New Proposals
The option to make a proposal to change something in the KOD ecosystem, requiring a vote by the Degen DAO to pass. A Gen 1 Knight is required to make a proposal.
Community Council
The community council was established to engage with the community to provide additional understanding and support regarding DAO proposals. This is an elected group that acts as the representative voice of the community that is elected by the DAO and will serve for a nine month term. New community council elections will occur quarterly.
Contest and Tournament Prize Grants
The Degen DAO will be able to approve distributions of DGEN to be used to sponsor prizes for Tournaments or Fantasy Leagues hosted via the Knights of Degen applications.
Degen Ventures
The venture arm of the Degen DAO was established to invest in sports and entertainment. These are DAO owned and operated assets, leveraging the licensed KOD brand, available to the community for participation. The goal of Degen Ventures is to increase engagement for the community and use for DGEN.
Degen Gaming Guild
The gaming arm of the Degen DAO that is established to hold gaming assets and deploy gamers from the KOD community.
KOD Media
The media arm of the Degen DAO established to operate as a decentralized media network covering the KOD world, sports, and web3.
Future Work
Ultimately, decisions about the future development of the Knights of Degen ecosystem will fall into the hands of the Degen DAO and core contributors.
Legal Disclaimers
This document and all information contained herein (collectively, this “Whitepaper”) is solely for information purposes to provide recipients information about the Knights of Degen ecosystem. This Whitepaper is provided “as is,” does not purport to be all inclusive and none of the Knights of Degen, Inc., the Degen DAO Foundation or any of their respective directors, officers, managers, members, employees, agents, or other representatives makes any representation, warranty, declaration, guarantee, certification or promise, in each case whether express, implied or otherwise, as to the accuracy, completeness or reliability of this Whitepaper.
This Whitepaper does not constitute any offer to sell, a solicitation of an offer to buy, or a recommendation to purchase or offer to purchase the DGEN token. You are not permitted to construe this Whitepaper, including the contents herein, as legal, tax accounting or investment analysis, recommendations or advice. You should consult your own counsel and tax and financial advisors as to all matters concerning the the Knights of Degen or the DGEN Token.
BY ACCEPTING THIS WHITEPAPER, EACH RECIPIENT REPRESENTS AND WARRANTS THAT IT IS NOT REYLING UPON THE INFORMATION CONTAINED HEREIN TO MAKE ANY DECISION.
FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS
Certain statements in this Whitepaper may be considered forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements generally relate to future events, including but not limited to the future financial or operating performance. All forward-looking statements in this Whitepaper, whether expressly or implicitly, are based upon estimates, assumptions, analysis and interpretations that, while considered reasonable, are inherently uncertain. This Whitepaper is not and shall not be relied upon as a representation, warranty, declaration, guarantee, certification or promise as to the past or future performance of the Knights of Degen ecosystem. This Whitepaper contains preliminary information that is subject to change, and which may be superseded, in whole or in part, by information contained in materials that may be distributed at a later date; provided there is no obligation to update this Whitepaper.
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